Foreword to I Am Your Amazing Body

This
ebook is an adaptation of I Am Joe's Body, a book originally
published by the Reader's Digest in the 1960s and long out of print.
That book was a collection of 33 articles written by J.D. Ratcliff in
the 1960s. This ebook version contains the original text with some
editing to reflect recent advances in medical science. In the
original version, "Joe" was characterized as a 47-year-old
man. Jane, slightly younger, was his wife – "a typical
couple." In this ebook version they are referred to simply as
"you."

Foreword to I Am Joe’s Body

Your
body is, undoubtedly, the grandest and most complex machine ever
built. It is also the most familiar – each one of us lives with his
model every moment of his life. Yet most of us take our bodies far
too much for granted – we don't think twice about them unless
something goes wrong. Naturally, we pay a price for such ignorance:
by remaining unaware of the marvels of the human body, we fail to
appreciate our own magnificence. And even more importantly, there's
little question that a knowledge of one's body, its various organs
and systems and how they work can be used to maintain health and
fitness and thus prolong our enjoyment of our lives.

The
book you're reading is being brought out to dispel precisely this
ignorance. Of course it does not pretend to be an exhaustive survey
of the human body and the problems it is prone to. That would require
a small library of solemn tomes. Our aim is more modest: to introduce
you to the most important parts and systems of your body, to some of
the more common ailments that afflict it – and what you can do
about them. As always with the Digest, the articles there are
thoroughly researched and vividly written, thus providing you with
authoritative and up-to-date information presented in a way that you
can enjoy and understand. It’s a book to read, keep and refer to,
again and again.